eCommerce is booming. I lost track about how many times I have used that sentence in an article in some shape or form. You will get used to it, eventually.
It’ still true, though. The number of online sales keep increasing, and the amount of people that prefer buying from a webshop rather than visiting a brick-and-mortar store is bigger than ever.
A while ago, the mother company of WordPress.com bought e-commerce platform WooCommerce. Not just any platform, WooCommerce is the de facto e-Commerce solution for the WordPress world. It’s fairly easy to use and there’s an ecosystem with tons of plug-ins. For your average webshop, WooCommerce is as good a choice as any – although I am not really a fan of using a CMS as a foundation for your webshop. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s not a surprise that WordPress.com and WooCommerce have been integrated to offer an e-Commerce option to the WordPress.com crowd.
For “just” €25 per month you can tack WooCommerce onto your subscription which will allow you to start selling products straight away. There is no clear indication on what features of WooCommerce might be missing, but let’s be honest: if you are part of the audience that’s interested in WooCommerce as a service, you might not notice the difference anyway.
And for just €45 a month, you get… eCommerce. WordPress.com is surprisingly tight-lipped about the features of this plan. It includes WooCommerce, obviously, but also “Premium Features”. No word about what those features might be, however. When on the eCommerce page and trying to learn more about the offering you are immediately taken to a page to sign up for the €45 a month service. Talk about an unclear message.
Is the WordPress.com Store any good?
I honestly don’t know. There is so little information available that you can’t figure out if it’s a good deal or whether you are better off installing WooComemrce yourself on a WordPress site. When that is not an option, which might be why you are looking at WordPress.com to begin with, alternatives like Shopify might offer more bang for your buck. You simply can’t tell at this point from the information that’s given by WordPress.com
I would, however, stay clear from the eCommerce option since you are paying another $20 a month for “Premium” features that aren’t defined. I can’t tell you how to spend your money, of course, but if I were in your position I would look at another more transparent offer elsewhere.